Intel chip shortages put a crimp in Mac sales

Intel continues to struggle to provide enough processors to meet demand from PC makers, and one of the victims was Apple. This is likely the cause for a slight drop in Mac shipments during the second quarter of this year.

Intel’s problem is Apple’s headache

Intel’s difficulties making enough processors is hurting smaller computer makers like Apple. “The shortage mainly impacted small and midsize vendors as large vendors took advantage and continued to grow, taking market share away from the smaller vendors that struggled to secure CPUs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, a senior analyst at market-research firm Gartner.

The top three computer makers — Lenovo, HP and Dell — all saw increases in their PC shipments in Q2. Apple, on the other hand, experienced a very slight drop, from 3.72 million units to 3.71 million units.

It’s possible Mac sales could have been much higher if sufficient Intel CPUs could have been secured. In April, Apple CEO Tim Cook reported that a decline in Mac revenue during Q1 was entirely due to shortages in Intel processors. “We believe that our Mac revenue would have been up compared to last year without those constraints,” he said at the time.

Still, sales of Apple’s desktops and laptops were strong enough to keep Apple as the forth largest PC maker in the world.